


The Christmas Angel

by caramelariana



Series: A Very Drarry Christmas [11]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Family-centric, HP: EWE, Lily Potter-Malfoy (Drarry Christmas), M/M, Roman Catholicism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-03-07 03:38:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3159815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caramelariana/pseuds/caramelariana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry does his best to explain to Lily the meaning of Christmas</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Christmas Angel

**Author's Note:**

> So I know it's a bit past Christmas, but I wanted to get these uploaded while it was still technically the Christmas season. This series was originally posted in 2011 on ff.net, and I wanted to export it to AO3 while it still made sense to post a Christmas fic!

The Potter-Malfoy family sat in a small diner that happened to be open on Christmas. Lily had begged and pleaded until her fathers had agreed to go to Christmas service where her friend was playing an angel in the nativity scene. An hour and fifteen minutes later they had found this diner and were now preparing to enjoy breakfast.

Lily grinned as her chocolate chip pancakes were placed in front of her. “Thank you,” she said enthusiastically.

An answering grin spread over the waitresses face as she set down Draco and Harry’s breakfasts. “You are quite welcome,” she said. As she refilled mugs of coffee Draco nodded his thanks and Harry smiled. With a wink in Harry’s direction, the young woman walked back to her station behind the serving counter.

“Wasn’t Cindy so pretty in her costume?” Lily asked around a mouthful of pancake.

“Lily,” Draco admonished. “Chew first, speak after.”

The six-year-old grinned sheepishly and quickly chewed her food, knowing she would not be acknowledged until she did so. She swallowed and repeated her question.

“Yes, Lily,” Harry answered patiently. “She was very pretty.”

“Do you think I could be an angel next year?”

Draco sighed. “We’re not Catholic.”

She frowned. “Do you have to be Catholic to be in the Christmas scene?”

“Probably,” Harry answered, taking another sip of his coffee.

“How do you become Catholic?”

Harry choked on his coffee as he erupted in laughter. Draco rolled his eyes and mumbled. “Your turn,” were the only understandable words that emerged from his mouth.

A sigh escaped Harry’s lips and he set down his fork so he could give his daughter his full attention. “It’s not as simple as that Lily,” he responded, trying to find the words. He thanked his old primary school teacher who had taught a section on world religions. The information he sought was buried under the education from Hogwarts that had been far more interesting. “Catholics believe in certain things. You have to believe those things in order to become Catholic.”

“Like what?” Lily asked, face full of concentrated interest.

Harry searched his memories. “For one thing, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus.”

“I thought Christmas was about presents?” Lily asked, clearly confused.

Draco snorted and Harry frowned. “Christmas is about _family_ ,” he stressed.

Lily shrugged. “Well, that too. But mostly presents.”

Harry resisted the urge to slap his forehead. Apparently he would need to do some education with his spoiled daughter. At six it was okay for her to be so excited over presents, but he wanted her to understand that holidays were about more than that.

“Were you listening to the priest?” Draco asked.

Lily blushed and played with her pancakes. “I tried. But he was kind of boring. Mostly I watched Cindy and everyone in the play.”

Draco smiled. “The priest said that on Christmas Jesus was born. Catholics believe in Jesus and his birth is why they celebrate Christmas.”

“So why do we celebrate Christmas?” Lily asked.

“Because it’s become a mainstream, nonreligious holiday,” the waitress said as she refilled Lily’s milk. “Sorry,” she said to the men. “I overheard your conversation.”

Harry smiled kindly. “That’s okay. I take it you don’t celebrate Christmas?”

“Nope!” the waitress said cheerfully. “That’s why I’m working today. But I certainly don’t begrudge those who do.” She winked again and went to greet a couple who had just entered the diner.

Lily frowned. “I still don’t understand.”

“That’s okay,” Harry said. “You will someday. For now it’s enough that you know that we celebrate Christmas so that we can spend a day as a family, and think about how much we mean to one another.”

“Sap,” Draco muttered under his breath. He earned a kick to his shin for his efforts.

Lily swallowed another bite of her pancakes, deep in thought. “It’s okay that we’re not Catholic,” she said suddenly. “I’d like to be an angel, but Cindy had to stand for a long time. And Catholics do a lot of standing up and sitting down.”

Harry laughed loudly as Draco had whispered the same observation during the service. “They certainly do,” he agreed.

Draco hid a smile behind his cup of coffee and watched as Lily finished her pancakes.

“I like our family,” Lily said suddenly. Her fathers were taken off guard by the sudden declaration. “Every other kid at school has one mom and one dad. But I get to have two dads. And Aunt ‘Mione is kind of like a mom. And I have Grandmother and Grandfather and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley. So I like our family. And I like that it’s different from the other kids. It’s special.”

Harry ducked his head to hide the tears that had suddenly wet his eyes. Draco leaned over and gave Lily a kiss on the forehead. “I like our family too,” he said proudly.

“That’s what Christmas is about, right Daddy?” she asked Harry. “To let you know that I love you.”

Harry smiled. “Yes, Lily. That’s exactly what Christmas is about.”


End file.
